Best excuses for a siesta
If we're really supposed to work from 9 to 5, then why did God give bars daytime hours? Especially sexy, sophisticated wine bars that serve steak tartare and fried clams, homemade hot dogs and Malpeques on the half-shell? From that perspective, it seems the angels themselves must look kindly on afternoons spent quietly at the Butcher Shop or B&G Oysters Ltd. - or both in succession, given their miraculous proximity - and if your boss doesn't look similarly, he can take it up with them. Meanwhile, you can just settle into your seat - it's the only time of day you're sure to get one - along the sunny window ledge at Barbara Lynch's genuine charcuterie with a glass of big, chewy red, or at the silvery raw bar of her sleek shellfish shack with a glass of crisp, herbal white, until you feel sufficiently refreshed to saunter back to work, European-style. Hey, it's either that or the shade of a big sombrero.

The Butcher Shop, 552 Tremont Street, Boston, (617) 423-4800, www.thebutchershopboston.com; B&G Oysters Ltd., 550 Tremont Street, Boston, (617) 423-0550, www.bandgoysters.com.